Sour liquid.



N 0 Drawing.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIoE.

ROBERT WAI-IL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

soon LIQUID.

To 077 whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT IVAHL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in'the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Sour Liquid, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide, by a novel process ofmanufacture a new article of sour liquid, which is useful for all thepurposes for which the known or commercial article known as vinegar maybe used-for examples, as a condiment or a preservative or'pieklingmedium; but which 'shall be partici'ilarly wholesome and devoid of allthe objectionable and deleterious qualities of ordinary tation.

To this end my invention consists 111 a vinegar or acetous fermensourliquid, which may be properly termed,

by analogy, lactegar, it being composed of the products of lactic acidfermentation to the exclusion of the products of substantially all otherfermentation, and in. which the lactic acid content exceeds one-half ofone per cent. by weight; and it also consists in the process which Ihave devised for manufacturing my improved article.

To practise my process it is necessary to provide the proper culturemedia for the growth of the lactic acid bacteria in the form of anaqueous mixture of the necessary food'for promoting that growth and tomaintain certain temperatures at which lactic acid forming bacteria willthrive to the exclusion of substantially all other fermentations. Lacticacid fermentation takes place bythe splitting up of saccharine matter,like lactose, dextrose, maltose, levulose and other sugars, into lacticacid, one molecule of sugar yielding two or a multiple of two'molecules,or about the same weight, of lactic acid. This fermentation proceedswith the natural growth, of tlie"'ferment, lactic acid bacteria, whichmultiply rapidly in the liquor at temperatures within the range of about45 C. to 55 C. In reproducing themselves these bacteria form newprotoplasm out of the. available supply of food, and this protoplasm,which i's'bu'llt up of nitrogenous matter and mineral sub-;

stances, must be contained in the culture medium. I

The materials that may be used for my purpose includethe followingz Allwhole grains, or by-products thereof, such as bran,

Specification of Letters Batent.

Patented June 4, 1912.

Application filed September 5, 1911. Serial No. 647,668.

middlings, shorts, the gluten particularly of corn, brewers anddistillers grains, malt sprouts, flour and meal; seeds and by-prodcottonseed, and the cake forming the residue of oil extraction therefrom;sugar beets, sugar cane, grapes and olives, and the residuum of eachafter subjecting it to extraction; yeast and its extract; meat and itsextract; and amino and peptid bodies, whether natural or artificial. Inmany of these materials the nitrogenous food for the growth of thelactic acid bacteria is con t-ained in a readily available form, forinstance in meat and yeast extract, amino and peptid bodies; whereas inothers, like whole grains and by-products thereof, the nitrogenousmatter is not readily available, being insoluble in water, but it ismade readily soluble, or its solubility is materially increased, by thelactic acid, some of these nitrogenous constituents being broken downreadily through the agency of the lactic acid at a temperature of 45C.55 C., for instance nitrogenous bodies contained inwhole grains,wheat-bran, middl'ings, etc., peptones and amino bodies being formed tofur stituents for carrying on the lactic acid'fer-- mentation, some in areadily available form, like meat extract-and yeast extract, while inothers these mineral bodies are not readily soluble in water, but becomeso by the aid of lactic acid. Vhere the mineral matter is wanting ordeficient, as in brewers? grains, the same may be supplied by addingphosphates, potassium salts, etc. Thus these materials, by mixing themwith water, supplying the necessary saccharine matter by adding sugar,inoculating the mixture with lactic acid bacteria and maintaining theproper temperature for the requisite length of time, become food mediafor the propagation of lactic acid fermentation and the formation of theresultant lactic acid.

IVhfle I contemplate the inoculation by lactic acid bacteria as anessential step wil most. of these materials, it is not necessary withsome, like malt and malt sprouts, to actually add these bacteria from anextraneous source, since they naturally contain a large number of lacticacid bacteria. As is well known, infection by lactic acid may I tion as,for instance, through contact with air, this taking the place ofartificial inoculation.

To explain my improved process in detail 1t ma be described with the useof wheat-la'an, as the material to be treated, as'

-follows: l mash or mix the bran with water, using. by weight, about 20to 50 parts of bran with about 15 to 25 parts of sugar to about 1000parts of water.

acidulation approximates at least one per' cent, which is sutlicient forthe use of the liquor as a condiment, as for salad dress-- ings, thoughfor preserving or pickling purposes the percentage of acidulat-ionshould be at least 3 per cent. I find that by maintaining this mash atthe prescribed temperature for a period of from 24 to 48 hours, theextent of acidulation will reach 1 per cent. and over: and when theprocess is practised with maltas the material, the extent of acidulationin that period reaches to 2-2.} per cent. The acidulated liquor,containing the products of lactic acid fermentation to the exclusion ofpractically all other fermentation. is then separated from the solidmatter of the mash, and may then be filtered, or first concentrated andthen filtered. Byconcentration the extent of acidulation is increased,and the increase should be to at least 3 per cent. to give strengthto'the liquor and lend to it the keeping quality necessary to render itcommercial.

For treating any of theother named ma terials for my purose, the processis the same as that-descriied of the treatment of wheat-bran, exceptthat Where the starch of the grain employed itself yields the requisiteamount of sugarbyconversion in the mashing step, no sugar need be added.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1s 1. Theprocess ot manufacturing the herein described sour liquid, whichconsistsin mixing with water, food-material having the property of promoting thegrowth of lactic acid bacteria, inoculating the mixture with lactic acidbacteria and 'maintaining it, until the extent of the acidulation. ap-''proximates at least one per cent, at a temperature that will promotethe fermenting 1 action of said bacteria and prevent substantiallyallother fern'lentation' in said mixture, while retaining the unassimilated7 This mash is. heated to C. or thercabout and is then 7 7 hereindescribed sour liquid, which consists in mixing with water.fowl-material havin the propertyof promoting the growth of lactic acidbacteria, raising the temperature of the mixture to 55 n or therealmut,thm'eupon inoculating the. mixture wit-h lactic acid bacteria andmaintaining it.-until the extent of acidulation approximates at leastone per cent.. at a temperature that will promote the fermenting actionof said bacteria and preventsubstantially all other fermentation in saidmixture, while retaining the unassimilated t'otal-remuants aud otheruntermentcd and unfermcntable extractive substances of said material.

3. The process of manufacturing the herein described sour liquid, whichconsists in mixing with water, fowl-materialhaving the property ofpromoting the growth of lactic acid bacteria, inoculating the mix ture.with lactic acid bacteria. and maintaining it, until the extent ofacidulation approximates at least one pcr cent, at a temperature thatwill promote the fermenting action of said bacteria and preventsubstantially all other fermentation in said mixture, while retainingthe unassimilatcd food-renuuints and other unfermented and unfermentableextractive substances of said material and condensing the resultantliquor to increase the acid content thereof to an extent that willpreserve it.

dfThe herein described sour liquid composed of the products of lacticacid fermentation to the exclusion of the products of substantially allother fermentation and in which the lactic acid content approximates theproportion of lactic acid is sufiiciently-in excess of one per cent. topreserve said liquor against spoiling, and the unassimilatedfood-remnants and other unfermented and unfermentable extractivesubstances of lactic-acid-bacteria-growing food-material.

GUSTAVE L. Goon, JOHN NALIKOWSKY.

fermentation-

